The present invention relates to developing software applications. More specifically, the invention relates to techniques for building and installing software applications.
When computers were in their infancy, it was very common for a single programmer to develop a software application or program. Today, however, software applications are typically orders of magnitude more complex and are programmed by many programmers. Each programmer usually has one or more portion of the software application for which he or she is responsible.
As the number of programmers working on a software application increased, there grew a need to control modifications to the source code. As a result, source code control programs evolved that helped manage how the multiple programmers gain access to the source code. As an example, typically programmers “check out” source code modules and modifications that are made to the source code are recorded in some fashion.
Additionally, software applications typically have a large number of deliverable files (e.g., executables, dynamic link libraries, text files, and the like). In order to assist the installation process, installer programs are available that install the software application and its deliverable files on a computer system. For example, the install program can create directories and copy the deliverable files to their appropriate destination.
Although source code control programs and install programs have made software application development easier, it would be beneficial to have techniques that aid in the building and installation processes during software application development. For example, software application development has many stages in which source code control programs are typically utilized later in development during the low level design stage (e.g., programming) and installer programs are typically utilized at a still later stage in development. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have improved techniques for building and installing software applications that utilize information gathered throughout the development process.